1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle driver assistance systems and more particularly to a method and system for detecting a driver's intention to perform a lane change and providing a recommendation to the driver regarding the intended lane change.
2. Description of the Background Art
Lane change maneuvers on freeways and even urban environments are stressful and often times dangerous due to the difference in speed of the vehicles in neighboring lanes, limited field of view behind and on the sides of the car (i.e., blind spots) as well as the relatively short amount of time in which the maneuver needs to be performed. Drivers have to rely on their view through the interior and exterior mirror to assess the position of vehicles behind them, which often times is not sufficient.
Once the driver makes a decision to change lanes, the driver usually enables the turn signal in either direction before changes lanes. At this point, the decision whether to change lanes has been made and usually the lane change maneuver follows immediately after or even during the signaling process.
Until recently, the lane change decision and execution was solely left to the driver of the vehicle. Recent advancements in sensor technologies provide the ability to monitor the surroundings behind and on the sides of the vehicle to detect vehicles in the blind spot and notify the driver with LEDs in the side wing mirrors if another vehicle is present. Once the signal lever is actuated on the side where another vehicle in a neighboring lane is located, a flashing LED light warns the driver about a possible dangerous situation when performing the lane change under the current traffic conditions.
Moreover, certain in-vehicle interactive control devices have been developed in which a user's intention to engage a control element of the interactive device is detected using sensors.
For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0327997 discloses an interactive control device configured to ascertain whether a body part of the user is positioned within an active region that is spatially defined with respect to a display positioned within a vehicle console. If a finger or hand of the user is detected within an activation region of the display screen, then the control action associated with the control element is activated. The system is also configured to detect and ascertain dynamic hand/finger gestures. That is, the system is able to detect movement of the user's hand/finger within the active region of the display.
Furthermore, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0056490 discloses an electronic circuit for use as a user interface with touch sensor technology that is configured to differentiate between proximity and physical contact events to activate and control loads for light bulbs, products with radio frequency circuitry or electric motors. The electronic circuit controls various functions in response to user actions.
Moreover, DE 102009038895 discloses a control element for operating functions of a device within a vehicle. Specifically, the control element includes a touchpad or a rotary push-controller. The system is configured to detect a posture of a user's body part (e.g., hand, finger) to predict a control that the user intends to use. For a specified control element, the system knows what posture a user's hand must be in to mechanically actuate the control element. With this knowledge, a sensor is configured to detect the posture of a user's body part during a control gesture to determine the intention of the user.
DE 10015726 discloses a driver assistance system with a screen display, which is controlled by a display control unit. Each control element in the display control unit is formed with an integral proximity sensor. As a user's finger/hand approaches one of the control elements, the function of the control element is displayed in a graphical representation on the display screen.
There is currently no system, however, which detects a driver's intention to change lanes prior to the driver actuating the turn signal lever.